If you were to ask my family what I know about sport, and football in particular, they would laugh, and they would be right, because I gave up playing soccer when I was 10 years old. However, that doesn’t stop me from having a view on the way the Germans have been playing. I am… Continue reading A slant on the Cup
Author: jp
Taking for granted
Today we are very busy, our lives are so full we tend to accept what people say without question. Very often what they have said is a half-truth or even a downright lie, but we don’t question it. These advertisements that keep reappearing on television are a case in point, in that they make broad… Continue reading Taking for granted
Charity
I would like you to read this opening paragraph because it’s approximately what I wrote in February 08, and I am now of the opinion that the situation is far worse, and I propose to demonstrate this fact, because I believe that the Charities Commission should be monitoring this. I will enlarge on this, further… Continue reading Charity
Generations and politics
I was thinking about the last election, and my own take, which I posted, and how there was no real standard requirement that the politician had to pass through to determine his or her experience and ability for the job. In the very old days it was a sort of gentlemen’s club where people of… Continue reading Generations and politics
Hours of working
I’ve been too long out of touch to comment on working hours of most of the trades, in my day it was eight o’clock in the morning to six at night, for the trades, nine to five for civil servants, posh offices like solicitors, accountants, and the rest had their own rules. Shops varied considerably,… Continue reading Hours of working
Cheaper by the dozen
I am at that stage in life, where I seem to have less interest in learning, than I do in being amused, but when you live alone, with all your contemporaries no longer here, being amused, becomes almost a matter of will power, that is to say deriving one’s own amusement, however banal. Believe it… Continue reading Cheaper by the dozen
Another go at Prince Charles
Last night I was watching something or other on television and dropped off to sleep. Now I live alone, I tend to do this because the conversation is so dull. When I awoke I found that Newsnight was having a go at poor old Charlie, for having commented to a friend that he didn’t appreciate… Continue reading Another go at Prince Charles
A stage too far
I am of a generation who looked upon sport as a pleasure, for those on the touchline and for those playing, not something that was so important that it had grown men crying in public. When I was younger I played in amateur games, went to matches as a spectator, and watched sports on television… Continue reading A stage too far
The knock on effects
I believe the biggest mistake they made with the budget was to increase the VAT. Psychologically it was wrong, and I question whether the value of 3% of VAT spread among the other sources of income for the government, would have been too difficult to manage, or are they trying to make a point? I… Continue reading The knock on effects
The demise of the cheque
In doing my accounts, I have discovered that not only I, but everybody else is dilatory in cashing cheques, for a number of reasons. We obtain our loose change from a hole in the wall, and consequently rarely go the bank. The amounts that the cheques carry are often small, money presents to small children,… Continue reading The demise of the cheque